Although no railroad projects in Ohio received a TIGER grant this year, the Ohio Department of Transportation did receive a $6,839,860 award to be used to improve the communications, scheduling and dispatching of more than 30 rural transit operators.
The $7.3 million project will involve development of technology improvements for communication/scheduling/ dispatching technology, improve rural transit operators’ eligibility for rural transit grants, and eliminate base-to-vehicle communication gaps in rural areas.
At present, many rural operators use pencil and paper scheduling, and dispatchers are often unable to communicate with drivers en route.
Having a better dispatching system is expected to improve customer satisfaction by providing more efficient on-time demand-responsive and fixed route operations.
This, in turn, is expected to lead to more efficient operation of vehicles, lower costs for transportation providers and clients, and more economical use of transit vehicles.
A more reliable communications system will allow rural transit operators to respond to emergency situations more rapidly and drivers to remain with their vehicles when involved in an emergency or an incident, thereby improving safety.